We have partnered with the EPA WasteWise and Sutta Recycling (www.greenplanet21.com) to establish an environmentally-friendly waste stream for a material that was previously thought to be unrecyclable. This program is the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, and is expected to create a new standard for the disposal of waste within the label and tag industry.

Prior to establishing the pilot recycling program, we were sending 100% of our paper-adhesive waste material to landfills through standard means of waste removal. By implementing this program, we will reduce our amount of landfill waste by approximately 75%. An additional benefit of this innovative program will be the overall cost savings we expect to realize. Our estimated waste removal expenditures will immediately decrease by about 24%.

The implementation of this program stemmed from the development of our company-wide sustainability goals. We had been researching the ability to recycle this material for some time, but because of its unique structure, we could not find an available recycling stream for it. Most paper products are relatively easily recycled. However, because label material has an adhesive coating that cannot be easily separated from the paper, recyclers would not accept it until now. Please see our Sustainability Statement for more information on the efforts we at Northwest Label are making to reduce our overall environmental impact.